Palayamkottai

Palayamkottai is a neighbourhood in Tirunelveli City, incorporated within the Tirunelveli City Municipal Corporation. It is situated on the east bank of the Thamirabarani river, with the exception of its downtown area, which is present on the west bank.

Etymology

The region Palayamkottai in Tamil is a portmanteau of 'palayam', which refers to a settlement, and 'kottai', which translates to a fort. Historically, Palayamkottai served as the locale of an ancient fort that was employed for the administration of neighbouring districts. Today, the fort lies in ruins and is almost camouflaged by its surrounding old residential edifices. While the classical Tamil pronunciation of the neighbourhood's name is the aforementioned Palayamkottai, the vernacular pronunciation of the settlement is more akin to Palayankottai or Palayankotta, with the latter being more widely preferred by the locals.

Geography

Prior to 1994, Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai were formerly administered as two independent municipalities. Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai along with surrounding areas were subsequently merged and established Tirunelveli City, now administered by the Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation.
Palayamkottai is situated on the eastern bank of the perennial Thamirabarani river. The region is very fertile and supports a thriving agrarian community in the midst of many urbanised areas. Regular monsoon rains coupled with the Thamirabarani water sustain the primarily agrarian villages around the city. Palayamkottai is located on the National Highway in close proximity to many bigger cities hence supporting trade and commerce.

Climate

Palayamkottai has a tropical savanna climate.

Religion

is the dominant faith in Palayamkottai. The city has several Hindu temples: the Gopalaswamy temple, Thiripuraanthakaeshwarar temple, Ramar temple, and the Amman temple.
The renovation of the Gopalaswamy temple was completed by the Government of Tamil Nadu recently. It is a Vishnu temple that embodies the cultural and architectural legacy of the city. The herbal wall paintings found inside the sanctum sanctorum are considered to be rare. Built in the 11th century, the institution held its Kumbhabhishekham on 9 July 2009.
A popular mosque in the city is located on the old Police Hospital road, with hundreds of Islamic followers chanting their prayers regularly. Melapalayam is the Muslim quarter of the city, with several mosques and schools.
The city is an epicenter in south Tamil Nadu for Christianity, scattered with a number of churches affiliated to the Tirunelveli Diocese Society of Jesus Jesuits, Church of South India, others. Joseph Constantine Beschi, better known among locals as 'Veeramaamunivar', propagated Christianity in the area. St.Xaviers' Cathedral church, situated at the heart of St. Xaviers' College and established by Jesuit priests, was among the earliest Catholic Churches in Palayamkottai. The St.Xaviers' College church is dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption.

Politics

Palayamkottai assembly constituency is a part of Tirunelveli.

Landmarks

Major localities in Palayamkottai are Vannarapettai, Murugankuruchi, Market, Samathanapuram, Kamarajar Nagar, Rahmathnagar, Perumalpuram, Maharaja nagar, High Grounds, VM Chatram and KTC Nagar and posh town called Santhi Nagar out of which Vannarpettai, Murugankurichi and Market are concentrated with largely commercial activities. There are also several other minor suburban areas which collectively contribute to the overall cityscape of Palayamkottai.
The little city also has a Government Museum with a huge and realistic fibreglass Tyrannosaurus rex which is popular among the young people of Palayamkottai. The museum houses a small collection of ancient artifacts found in the areas surrounding the city. Some of its literary collections include ancient Tamil inscriptions in palm leaves.
Palayamkottai also has one of the most popular Science Centres in South India, a satellite unit of Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum, Bangalore. Since the Science Centre lies between Palayamkottai and Tirunelveli and as it is difficult to mark a border between the two, it is often called as the Tirunelveli District Science Centre. It is a common hangout area for young people, and is frequently visited by teams of school students to explore and learn the principles of science through the centre's interesting outdoor equipment and experiments.

Hospitals

Palayamkottai has many hospitals and other medical facilities. Among them, Our Lady's Hospital, founded nearly 50 years ago by a Belgian nun called Sister Delphine Bruyndonx, was and still remains one of Palayamkottai's popular hospitals for people who are poor or disadvantaged. Sister Delphine was popularly called the Teresa of Tirunelveli by all the people who knew her, because she had served this society since a time when it did not have any electricity.
CSI Bell Pins Mission Hospital and the recently renovated CSI Jeyaraj Annapackiam Hospital in Palayamkottai provide free and reduced cost medical services to the local community. The Tirunelveli Medical college Hospital - a tertiary referral center, located in the High Grounds provides free services to poor people. Palayamkottai also has a specialized kidney care centre and heart surgery centre. The city also has four blood banks.
Government Siddha Medical College is also located at Palayamkottai.

Economy

There is a big market in central Palayamkottai, serviced by many bus routes. Also very popular among locals, is the Ulavar Santhai where farmers sell their products directly. The produce is very fresh and very cheap, and the market is usually very crowded in the morning with eager housewives exercising their haggling skills with the illiterate farmers. The success of the Ulavar Santhai market in Palayamkottai was under a deep speculation during the changing of governments. Now, with the ruling party DMK back in power, the Ulavar Santhai is maintained well and is a grocery market for the locals.
Although there are not many supermarkets in Palayamkottai, there are practically all kinds of shops catering to the local people's needs.

Public facilities

Palayamkottai also has a fire-fighting service which conducts camps in local schools annually. The postal service has a statue of Nandhis at the facade.
It also has the post offices, police stations, big malls, markets, etc.
Palayamkottai has a jail called Palayamkottai Central Prison, which housed several eminent people during the pre-Independence era and afterwards. The Tamil language poet Subramanya Bharathi spent a part of his life here. The District Central Jail is notable for its large capacity and tight security. The prison is a popular landmark along the periphery of the city. Even the former Chief Minister, J.Jayalalitha was thrice held in the Palayamkottai jail.

Transportation

Palayamkottai Bus Stand, or Palai Bus Stand as it is popularly called by the locals, was the major connecting hub of the City bus network. In 2003, the then Chief minister J.Jayalalithaa inaugurated a major new bus terminal, the Bharat Ratna Dr. MGR Bus Stand, for Tirunelveli in Veinthankulam on Tiruvananthapuram High Road. The new bus terminal connects Palayamkottai and Tirunelveli in an extensive network of neighbouring towns, cities and also the major metropolitan cities of Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The Palayamkottai bus terminal is also a major stopover for all buses going to Kanyakumari and Nagercoil. There are also numerous connections between the local Palayamkottai bus-stops and Tirunelveli town.
Share-autos ply extensively along Palayamkottai's streets and are easy to flag down. The regular yellow-black Greaves Garuda autorickshaws, although plenty in number, are considered to be the common man's taxis of Palayamkottai. Autorickshaw drivers are known to overcharge tourists. Cars as taxis, are generally only available in taxi stands where tourists and locals use them to travel to short distances outside of the city. As a common practise, people of Palayamkottai or Tirunelveli do not use taxis as an alternate public transportation to buses or trains. Ola taxis have gained popularity with other private taxis as they are cheap than autos.
Nearest Air Port
Nearest airports

Domestic Airport

Tuticorin Airport .

International Airport

Railway Transport
Palayamkottai also has a railway station on the Tirunelveli Junction to Tiruchendur Junction lines
Station code: PCO
Station Location: Palayamkottai
Zone Southern Railway

Education

Schools

Most schools in Palayamkottai were founded by the Christian missionaries almost a hundred years ago. Schools like St.Xavier's Hr.Sec. School, St. John's Higher Secondary School, MDT Hindu College Higher Secondary School and Schafter High School have roughly 12,000 boys altogether, M.N. Abdur Rahman Higher Secondary School, High Ground, Cathedral Hr. Sec. School is located in the heart of the city under the shadow of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Church. Girls Schools like Mary Sargent Higher Secondary School, St. Ignatius' Convent Higher Secondary School and Sarah Tucker Hr. Sec School have over 10,000 girls enrolled. These girls' schools are very popular for their strict code of conduct. It is mostly these institutions that employ the large teaching community of Palayamkottai.
In recent years, schools in Palayamkottai have gained a state-level recognition and some are even known all around South India. Rosemary matriculation higher secondary school, Pushpalatha vidya mandir, Chinmaya vidhyalaya, Jeyandara saraswathi swamigal school at maharajanagar, Magdalene high school, Bell international school, IIPE Matric Hr.Sec. are some schools.
Palayamkottai has schools for the blind, deaf and mentally handicapped children. These organizations are predominantly run by the Tirunelveli Diocese of Church of South India, and are:

Askwith School for the Visually Handicapped
Florence Swainson School for the Hearing Impaired
Bishop Sargent School for the Mentally Retarded